Dried poop on Chicks' Bum

[ChickyChickGirl]

thanks so much! I cleaned Dandy off, and she's doing just fine now

she even has some little tail feathers coming in too!

 

[philipchickymad]

i have a light sussex chick whos 3 days old with a clump of dry poop on her butt and i put her in a warm water bath and rinsed her butt and when i tried to take the poop of it would not budge without hurting the lil chick
any suggestions i was thinking of cutting the poop off with scissors

 

[mmmeyer]

I check the chicks everyday for the 1st 1-2weeks. If they get a poopy butt I use hydrogen peroxide and a q-tip. gently on removing as much as possible. as long as they can poop. I had one chick that had a big lump. got half of it removed. Then next day that chick had a fuzzy butt which is good. And as of today when I checked they all had fuzzy butts.

 

[mmmeyer]

I have use tweezers and scissors but be very very careful. The poop and make the scissors slip. and you dont want to hurt the chick.

 

[countrygirl86]

I use a q-tip and warm water. I bring everything I need to the brooder and hold the chick up but still over the brooder where it is warm. Usually I have to repeat several times wetting the q-tip and twirling it on the stubborn areas but it normally comes off very easy. I have found that doing it this way, only a small area gets damp and the chick dries quickly. I almost mistook a piece of umbilical cord for dried poop. That should be left alone. After just a few days I have noticed that pasty butt has lessened with just one or two chicks needing cleaned occasionally.

 

[ChickyChickGirl]

Also, after the poop is removed, try rubbing veggie oil or something around the vent

worked great for me and they're all doing fine so yay!

 

[HugHess]

I had the same problem with two of my chicks, so I ended up taking a small mixing bowl that was narrower at the bottom and placed warm water in it, took a baby and gently dunked their butt...for about 2-3 seconds. If the poop wouldn't easily come off using a tissue or piece of paper towel, I would dunk them again and then took a greyhound grooming comb (I am sure you could use flea-combs or fine toothed hair combs, etc.) and I used the fine side to gently, always going from vent towards hocks, part poop from fuzz. As soon as I felt any resistance, I stopped, re-dunked and tried again.
Then I finished off any remnants with another paper towel.
Already having them gently wrapped in a kitchen towel, to help control 'flighty' behavior and also because I could safely maintain a looser grip, I would take the towel's end, by their bum, and blot whatever wetness that wasn't picked up by the paper product. Just sitting within the towel will do a lot of the work for you as they help dry themselves through direct contact.
Make sure to dry off all other parts that got wet from their quick sits bath! No chilling aloud!
As soon as they were less than damp I placed them immediately back into their brooder, clean and chirpy.